21 Nebulae whose shapes and colors seem unreal

Before the invention of telescopes, any body that could be perceived in space, but whose shape was not perfectly visible, was called a nebula. However, technology has advanced since then and the fact that space observation has become more accurate has made it possible to identify different formations full of colors present in space. Nebulae are, in fact, accumulations of gases such as hydrogen or helium, together with different chemical elements, in the form of cosmic dust. In these areas of space phenomena can happen that favor the formation or extinction of stars. They are cataloged in three groups, depending on the amount of ultraviolet light they have: dark, reflection or emission.

O awesome.club collected vibrant images of nebulae that really amaze with their shapes and colors.

It is located near the constellation of Sagittarius and was discovered in 1747. It is also known as NGC 6530. The brightest stars that compose it are called 9 Sagittarii and HD165052 and are of spectral type O (this means that their light is bluish).

It belongs to the constellation of Lupus and received its name because it is similar to the retina of the human eye. It is also called IC 4406. Due to its symmetry, it was included in the class of bipolar nebulae. Its distance from Earth is not very precise, but astronomers have estimated it to be between 1,900 and 5,000 light years.

It is also called Barnard 33 and it is a dark nebula. It measures 3.5 light-years across and is located at the far left of Orion’s belt. It is reddish in color because there is a recombination in its hydrogen atoms. It was discovered by astronomer Williamina Fleming in the late 19th century.

Astronomers have calculated that this emission nebula is 1 or 2 million years old and is located in the constellation of Serpens. It has about 460 stars, the brightest of which are bluish. In it are the so-called “Pillars of Creation”, because from time to time some stars are born in two of its columns of gas.

It is very close to the constellation of Ophiuchus, about 2,100 light years from Earth. In the center, you can see a giant white dwarf star, which is not very different from the Sun in our system. It was discovered in 1947 by astronomer Rudolph Minkowski.

It is composed of hot ionized air, oxygen, sulfur and hydrogen and originated from a supernova explosion more than 5,000 years ago. Although it is difficult to observe with the naked eye, because of its great magnitude, it was discovered in 1784 by astronomer and musician William Herschel.

This accumulation is located in the constellation of Orion. It is also known by the name of NGC 2174 and is associated with groups of stars originated by the same molecular cloud, called open stellar cluster. Its distance from Earth is 6,400 light years and it was discovered in 1857 by the German Karl Christian Bruhns.

It belongs to the constellation Gemini, located more than 3,000 light years from our planet. It got its name due to its unusual shape, as astronomers seemed to see a person’s face in a kind of hood. It consists of the remains of dying stars in their red giant phase. Although it is very bright, to observe it you need to use a large telescope.

It is a reflection nebula, and this is due to its bluish tones (due to the properties of the dust it is composed of and thanks to its proximity to a star in the blue supergiant stage). This cluster of gases, mainly carbon monoxide, can be found near the constellation of Orion, 1,000 light years from Earth.

It is also called 30 Doradus. Although it was initially considered a star, it was recognized as a nebula in 1751. This is because its luminosity is such that, if it were located at the same distance from Earth as Orion, it would be able to cast shadows on our planet.

It is a large emission nebula, and in it lies the giant star called Eta Carinae, one of the brightest in the Milky Way. It is one of the largest ever recorded. It belongs to the constellation of Carina, located at an estimated distance of 10,000 light years and has stars with the classification O.

It is a large, circular nebula that is part of the constellation of Monoceros, located within the Milky Way band. It lies about 5,200 light-years from Earth and is 130 light-years across. It is mainly made up of areas of B-ranked young stars.

Within the constellation of Musca, this hourglass-shaped nebula is believed to have originated from the rapidly expanding stellar wind over a slower velocity cloud. In the center, there is a star that gives rise to this nebula, located at least 8 thousand light years from Earth.

To the south of the constellation of Orion lies the most photographed nebula in history, as it is visible in the night sky. It has a diameter of 24 light-years and is made up of a few brown dwarf stars and swirling turbulence. It is also known as the Messier 42.

This dark nebula composed of cold molecular hydrogen is weakly emitting and is named for its cone shape. It was discovered in 1785 by Herschel, is located north of the constellation of Monoceros and is more than 2,700 light years from our planet.

In the constellation of Taurus lies the remnant of a supernova called the Crab Nebula. It serves as a useful source of radiation for studying the bodies that compose it. It contains an intermittently radiating neutron star called a pulsar, which rotates at 30 rotations per second.

It has an inner nebula that is brighter than the others and a spectral type star that gives it the appearance of a cat’s eye. Its brightness is greater than that of the Sun, and much study has been devoted to its electromagnetic spectrum. It is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium.

This is a reflection nebula. It received this name because it has a series of arcs and circles around its main star, hidden by a dense layer of dust and gases that prevents the perception, in its entirety, of the light it emits. It was discovered in 1996 by members of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, dedicated to building NASA’s unmanned spacecraft.

In the constellation of Cassiopeia there is this impressive nebula in the form of a blue bubble that delimits the wind emitted by the star located in the interior. It is not yet known exactly how far it is from Earth, but it is assumed that it has between 10 and 20 times the solar mass of our system.

Also known as Menzel 3, this accumulation of gases resembles the body shape of an ant. It is a bipolar nebula that, according to some specialists, maintains a symbiotic star in the center, surrounded by a nebulosity. Others say that the rotation of a dying star caused the peculiar shape of its magnetic field.

This peculiar line formation is found in the constellation Vela, 815 light years from our solar system. It is believed to have been generated by a shock wave from a supernova remnant of this constellation. It is also estimated that its constant movement occurs at 644 thousand kilometers per hour.

Which of these nebulae did you find most interesting? Do you think it’s easy to get these images? Tell us in the comments section.